Gua Sha Facial Therapy
Even though TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine has been practiced for thousands of years in East Asia, it has only recently made waves in the U.S. due to a few TCM articles published in popular magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Refinery29. However, with all its new found popularity, we need to sort the fact from the fiction in TCM, which is why this article will try to explain the benefits that gua sha therapy can offer people.
What is Gua Sha?
Gua sha is a healing modality traditionally practiced in East Asian cultures. It is sometimes called scraping, spooning, or coining. In gua sha therapy, an instrument is used to press-stroke a lubricated area of the body unidirectionally to generate temporary sha or petechiae, which signify blood extravasation in the surface of the skin.
In other words, gua sha therapy uses a scraping tool (bone or jade) across the skin to generate bleeding capillaries or petechiae. We need to understand that the petechiae are not bruises. While this might not sound like a most enjoyable experience, gua sha is therapeutic and relaxing when performed properly.
Gua Sha Benefits
A few of the benefits of gua sha therapy are listed below:
- Lessens pain
Gua sha is anti-inflammatory, which implies it can dramatically lessen myalgia, making it an ideal treatment for chronic pain. Research has also shown that gua sha “has a healing effect on inflammatory conditions, such as chronic hepatitis, where an inflamed liver suggests organ degeneration that over time can result in premature death”. Regardless of one’s condition, a gua sha procedure can help relax the muscles.
- Stimulates the immune system
Its impact on the immune system is one of the most useful benefits of gua sha. This procedure helps activate the immune system, causing the body to accelerate its natural healing process. In Asian societies, gua sha is commonly utilized in the case of illness to “let the sickness escape.”
- No Need for Needles
Gua sha has the same pain relieving effects as Bellingham acupuncture, but it is not as painful or invasive as acupuncture. This makes this technique more appropriate for children and people of all ages.
- Anti-aging
Aside from the extraordinary healing offered by gua sha, it can also be used to enhance your beauty. A quite gentle procedure, a gua sha facial therapy can:
- Tighten the skin
- Smooth wrinkles and fine lines and
- Plump the skin to give it a youthful glow
- Reduce puffiness under the eyes